Move Your Body
by Marisol31180
Summary: Buffy finds Spike on the cemetery as he lies on the ground completely unable to move. Something whose poison has a paralyzing effect has bitten him into the shoulder, so that he can’t move his body any more. Buffy takes him home reluctantly while Willow i
1. Chapter 1

The ground beneath her feet was soaking from last night's rain, so that each of her steps caused a smackink noise.  
"Let's go home, Xander. Seems like nothing's going on tonight at all. No vampires, no demons..." Buffy sighed and whirled the stake in her hand lost in thought while she looked over the fields of the cemetery.  
Xander nodded and put a biscuit into his mouth.  
"Any other plans for tonight? What about the Bronze?" he asked.  
"I dunno...I'd rather stay at home."  
They had hardly made a couple of steps when they heard a loud noise behind them.

"You heard this, too?" Buffy asked and stopped.  
"MMMMHHHHLLLP" This time the noise was even louder and with some imagination it could be recognized as a cry for help, which made Buffy and Xander run again in the direction of the cemetery.  
After a few metres they immediately noticed the shape which lay motionlessly on the ground and from which the calls for help had apparently come.  
While getting closer they soon recognized that they knew this person very well, even if they had never seen him in such position.  
He lay face down on the ground, both arms widely outstretched - and he didn't move at all.

"Spike?" Buffy asked in a mixture of irritation and surprise.  
"Not that I seriously care, but what are you doin' there?  
"What does it look like? I press my face into the mud!" it vaguely came from him. Oddly enough, he still didn't move.  
"Oh, okay then... keep on enjoyin'... whatever you're doin' there," Buffy replied and intended to pass him by.  
"Wait! I'm injured... turn me around." An imploring undertone had inferred his sarcasm-dripping voice so that Buffy kneeled beside him and rolled him on his back.

"Ever thought about joining the Alcoholics Anonymous, Spike?" Xander grinned.  
"I'm not drunk, you idiot!" the vampire hissed.   
"I've been attacked!"

"What do you mean by 'attacked'?" Buffy asked and slowly rose while she offered Spike her hand to help him to get up on his feet.  
"I came out of my crypt and walked over the cemetery when I heard something behind me. Sort of whistles, sounded as if someone would let air from a balloon. And when I was about to turn round something bit me into the shoulder. I fell face first and now I can´t move..."  
"You can't move?" Buffy slowly lowered her outstretched hand and looked at him unbelievingly.  
"Did you think I'm lying here and eatin' mud 'cause it's that funny?" he growled furiously. 

"Well... however. I'm sure you'll manage this!" Xander said and patted Spike's shoulder before he did some steps into the direction of the cemetery exit.

"Hey... wait! You can't just leave me here like this."  
They could hear obvious panic in his voice. Buffy bent down to him, not trying to hide her amusement, as she asked:  
"Oh, can't we? And why not?"  
"What if I still can't move when the sun rises later?"  
Xander came back and shot him a look that said: _So what?_

Spike understood the expression on his face and continued hastily:  
"I'll burn miserably! You guys can't do that to me... Come on..."  
Xander still didn't seem to be convinced by this argumentation and Spike exploded:  
"Damn!You gotta help me!"  
"Oh, do we?" Xander replied, smiling evily.

"Come on, don't be that cruel... Remember, Buffy, I always looked after Dawn. And you, Xander... I've helped you before, too, I'm quite sure it was when...Well, please."  
They looked down to him as he started panicking more and more and at the same time both thought that he'd probably have been sweating terribly in this moment, if he had been a human.  
"Okay then" Buffy finally mumbled.  
"We take you to you crypt and..."

"No, not my crypt!" The blond vampire interrupted her hastily.  
"I'm still in debt with a few guys...Kittens and stuff...and if they show up in my crypt and I'm still just as helpless as now... You have to take me with you!"  
Buffy rolled her eyes and sighed.  
"Alright, Xan, we take him, I hope that Willow knows what to do."

"Does that mean that we give up the option of leaving him here?" Xander mumbled, then, however, bent down and grabbed Spike's ankles, while Buffy reached under his arms to raise him with Xander's help.  
And so the strange trio left the cemetery, while Spike babbled incomprehensible stuff which sounded like: _Oh hell, no.. I am handicapped … again! _

When they arrived at the crossroads, Buffy turned left while Xander exactly headed into the opposite direction.  
"Damn! I'm not an accordion," Spike protested.  
"We take him to your apartment , Xander!" Buffy decided vigorously.  
"Absolutely NO CHANCE! He already lived at my place, I know what it is like and I couldn't stand him once again."

"However, I can't take him," Buffy started but Xander immediately interrupted her.  
"Why not? You've got much more space than Anya and me."  
"Xander, please..." Buffy now tried the guileless look and the pout, which had always worked when she had wanted to convince him, but this time her friend simply refused to give in.  
"NO!" he shouted energetically and simply dropped Spike's feet, which hit the ground with a loud bang, so that Buffy lost the balance and almost fell.

"OUCH!" Spike squealed furiously. "That hurt! And by the way, the fact that I can't move doesn't mean that I can't hear!"  
They both simply ignored him, however, and continued to argue.  
"Buffy, this time it's your turn, I won't take him with me. Never. Ever. Again."  
Xander didn't give way and Buffy knew that she could do nothing else but accept it.

When they arrived at Buffy's house, they laid Spike on the couch in the living room.  
Xander called Willow and while he explained to her what had happened, Spike asked quietly: "Why don't you want me to be here?"  
Buffy looked at him silently for a while, then, however, hissed: "´Cause it pisses me off to have you around. You're goin'on my nerves."  
_Why the hell did her voice sound so, so dreadfully shaky?_

Spike had noticed the undertone in her voice, too.  
"Oh yeah? Is it that? Or are you maybe afraid of me, luv? You know that I can't do anything to you right now..."  
The way his eyes sparkled clearly showed that he would have enjoyed changing this fact and Buffy didn't dare to think about what exactly he would do to her, if he only could. 

"Wills is goin' to come round in a few minutes." Xander obviously hadn´t heard a single word of her conversation and Buffy was honestly glad that her thoughts were turned away by him. However, her relief didn't last because after few moments Xander announced that he would go home.

"Stay," Buffy tried to persuade him, suddenly confronted with the thought that she would remain alone with Spike.  
Xander said goodbye before Buffy had a chance to coax him into staying.  
With a quiet clicking the door shut behind Xander and Buffy forced herself to look at Spike, who watched her attentively.

"Now we're alone," he murmured and a light smile appeared on his face.  
"So what? Did you think that I'm gonna jump on you?" she replied, trying to sound as mocking as possible, although she notice that she didn't succeeded at all.  
"Oh, if you insist on doing so... I won't fight you off, strictly speaking, I couldn't, even if I wanted to."  
He leered and Buffy cursed herself for noticing how attractive he was looking.

Giving herself an imaginary firm kick into her bottom she said condescendingly:  
"Spike, how often did I tell you? A hundred times, a thousand times? You. Disgust. Me."  
"Sure..." he said, while she could read his thoughts in his eyes:  
_You little liar._  
"Can you wipe the dirt from my face at least?"  
"No", she immediately answered.  
"Come on, Slayer, don't be ridiculous. All you have to do is wipe over my face with a piece of cloth. Or are you maybe afraid to get too close to my lips?"  
With the last sentence he had almost lowered his voice into a whisper, while he shot her a provocative look.

Buffy didn't reply, because on the one hand she didn't want to get involved in his little game, on the other a prickling feeling in her stomach told her that her voice could sound terribly squeaky again.   
And so she went to the bathroom without saying a word only to come back with a wet washcloth a few moments later.  
Pretending to be easy and cool at all she bent down to him and started to to wipe his face with the cloth.

She intended to do it roughly and ruthlessly, but then she surprised herself by carefully, almost softly gliding over his cheeks to remove the mud.  
Fascinated she looked at his pale, flawless skin, the straight nose and his distinctive cheek bones.  
She didn't know exactly what she had expected, maybe that he would smell musty or yucky, but instead a smell which somehow reminded her of sandalwood got in into her nose.   
A pleasant, manly smell.

For strange reasons she couldn't bring herself to look into his eyes, not even as she noticed that he breathed in audibly.  
Her eyes reached his mouth, which was opened a little.  
His finely curved, sensuous lips shone damply and she caught herself staring at them while wondering how these lips would feel on hers.  
Completely forgetting about the cloth she looked at his mouth and licked over her own lips unconsciously.  
She didn't know how many seconds or minutes had passed until she managed to stop staring at his lips and to look into his eyes instead.  
That it was a mistake she knew the moment she remarked that the blue of his eyes had darkened, resembling a nightly ocean now, which invited her to want to dive into its depths.

Tiny, sharp needles seemed to stimulate her skin when she saw how Spike watched her, with such an intensive look that made her feel dazed.  
He slowly closed, as if in slow motion, his eyes and moistened his half open lips with his tongue.  
Buffy didn't know how it could happen but she suddenly found herself so near to his face that she could feel his cool breath on her cheek.  
Her chest lifted and sank intensely when she closed her eyes and bent her head.  
It happened without her being able to fight against it, without listening to her inner voice that told her not to do so.  
And just in the moment, when her lips touched his, a loud bang startled her and she stood up hastily.

"Buffy, I'm home!" Dawn shouted as she came in.


	2. Chapter 2

Buffy felt her face getting hot and covered by an intensive redness.  
"Huh?" Her brain seemed to have forgotten how to build words, it took her some time before she asked with a shaky voice:  
"Dawn... uh... where have you been?"  
She did her best to keep from looking caught in the act or nervous. Truth be told, she was both.

" I was at Janice's. I told you earlier today!"  
Dawn looked reproachfully at her sister and wanted to add something, when she noticed Spike who lay motionlessly on the couch.  
"Spike!" she squeaked. "What are you doin' here?"  
"I'm injured," he explained to her. "Something bit me into my shoulder and now I can't move anymore."

He glanced at Buffy while he talked to Dawn, his eyes clearly showing how much he regretted the interruption. Buffy couldn't help but leaving the room hastily, knowing fully well that it looked like an escape.  
She ran the stairs up to the bathroom, closed the door behind her and turned on the faucet to let the cold water run over her trembling hands.  
She rubbed over her face with her hands as if wanting to wash away the touch of his lips.

_Damn, what was this?  
Had she just been about to kiss him?  
What the hell was wrong with her?_  
When she turned off the faucet, she heard Spike's and Dawn's voices from below.  
A few moments later the doorbell rang.  
She waited until she felt that she had regained her self-control before she went down the stairs on wobbly knees to welcome Willow, whom Spike just told what had happened to him.

"And you really can't move? ", Willow asked surprised.  
"No, not at all. Um, I can turn my head a little. I can open and close my eyes. I also can move my mouth and my tongue."  
With the last words he looked penetratingly at Buffy and for a tiny moment he leered before he continued: "And that's it."

"But you can _feel_ your body, can't you? I mean, if I touch you, you're feelin' it?"  
Willow asked and softly pinched him into his arm.  
"Oh yeah, I _do_ feel my body."  
His eyebrows went up and slowly he moistened his lips, never taking his look from Buffys face.  
She widened her eyes at him and quickly held up a hand as if wanting to forestall any other comment.  
To her relief, he turned his head away after a few moments, trying to follow Willow's questions.

He explained to her that he hadn't seen what had attacked him but had only felt the painful bite.  
Willow had brought some books which she now leafed hectically, but after she was quiet for about fifteen minutes, there was no doubt that she didn't have the tiniest idea what this mysterious bite was about.  
In the end, just in order to say something, she asked: "Can I have a look at the bite?"  
Spike nodded, as much as it was possible for him and looked expectantly at Willow.  
"We should take your shirt off. Um...Buffy?"

Buffy winced and answered in a voice which didn't seem to belong to her: "Take off...WHAT?"  
Willow shot her a confused look, apparently not understanding what was going on with her.  
Buffy breathed discreetly in and out, before she went to the couch and shoved her hands under Spike's scapulas to raise his upper part of the body. She did it while trying to look completely uninterested, although a strange feeling in her stomach told her that Spike knew perfectly well that she felt all nervous and sort of excited.

When she had managed this, she pulled his black t-shirt over his head and forced herself not to stare at the upper part of his body, which, however, wasn't as simple as she had imagined.

She swallowed hard while she watched his firm and well built body.  
Whenever she had imagined how he might look naked, she would have never expected THAT at all. _Well, not that she had ever imagined his naked body..._  
Fortunately, her irritating thoughts were turned away by Willow who had stepped up behind her to look at the tiny, red prick on Spike's shoulder.  
"Hmmm," she murmured lost in thought and chewed on her lower lip, before she said: "I'm sorry, Spike, but I really can't figure out what this could have been. I'll need a little more time, okay? It would have been easier, if you had seen what the thing, whatever it was, looked like."

"Does that mean that Spike stays here until you have found out what has bitten him and what can be done against the paralysis," Dawn asked eagerly, trying to conceal her joy about it unsuccessfully.  
"Erm... seems like." Willow mumbled.

"Oh, fuck . . . I'm handicapped! Who knows for how long...? Do you have any idea what it feels like?" the vampire moaned while Willow tried to calm him down.  
Buffy unconsciously pressed her hand against her mouth as she became aware what it meant.  
Spike would stay for an uncertain time.  
In her nearness.  
He would shoot her these provocative looks which, for any reasons, made her feel completely weak.  
He would say these things with his deep, soft voice to her, which somehow caused her gooseflesh and a strange feeling of tenseness.  
_Oh God, this couldn't be true._

In the middle of the night Buffy still turned restlessly in her bed to and fro, trying desperately to get some sleep.  
A look at the watch told her that it was already two o'clock and the more she intended to turn her thoughts away from Spike, the more intensively she had to think about him being in the living room, only few metres away from her.  
_Okay, I really didn't wanna kiss him!_ Her attempt to convince herself didn't work at all, but she kept on trying.  
_It was simply one... impulse. A stupid, unplanned, completely insignificant coincidence. _

She pressed her lips on each other and tried to forget how his skin had felt under her fingers when she had taken off his t-shirt.  
She succeeded just as little in forgetting this, as she could forget the feeling which his lips had caused her at the tiny moment when they had touched hers.

_Food_, she suddenly thought.  
_The only thing which can turn me away now is eating something... sweet and full of fat. _  
She thought of pancakes dripped with maple syrup and it didn't take her long to get up and creep down the stairs.

Spike lay on the back as she had left him and seemed to sleep tightly.  
The door shut silently behind her as she went into the kitchen on tiptoes without switching on the light.  
She looked around for the gas lighter after she had put the necessary ingredients for the pancakes on the table, but she couldn't find it anywhere.  
She rummaged all cupboards for the gas lighter, without success.  
_Oh, great! Why can´t we have an electric range?_

While wondering what to do now, she suddenly remembered Spike's lighter.  
She had seen it in his trouser pocket and she was sure that if she was absolutely careful and quiet, she could certainly pull it out without waking him up.  
She crept into the living room, watched Spike from a couple of paces of distance and then slowly got closer.

She leant down to him carefully, saw the silvery edge of the lighter in his trouser pocket and extended slowly her hand.  
His eyes were closed and he didn't breathe.  
Carefully she grasped the lighter with her thumb and forefinger and started to pull it out slowly but to her trouble it didn't move at all.  
_Why the hell did he always need to put on so damn tight jeans?_

She dared to reach a little more deeply into his trouser pocket and forcefully pulled the lighter out, forgetting all caution.  
She was to intent upon her trying to look at his face and when she finally did it, she winced and her eyes widened as she met his which were open.

And there she stood, too shocked to move or to speak, her hand deeply buried in his trouser pocket, while she heard him whispering:  
"So... look what we have here, Slayer... "  
He grinned at her smugly as he continued, enjoying every single word:  
"Has noone ever told you that sexual harassment of disabled persons is punishable?"


End file.
